Blitzkuchen

This simple German coffee cake recipe is quick and easy and makes a delicious, fluffy breakfast that everyone will enjoy!

Guten tag, my lovely friends! Would you like some Blitzkuchen? The answer is ja. YES. You absolutely need this coffee cake recipe in your life because it is so simple yet sooooo delicious.

Blitzkuchen, or ‘lightning cake’ in German, makes me so happy because when I make it, I really feel like I’m getting in touch with my roots. I come from a long line of German immigrants on my mom’s side who I hope would be very proud of my blitzkuchen. And I always have a soft spot in my heart for any coffee cake; my grandfather on my mom’s side adored coffee cake and whenever my family came to visit him, he would always sneak out of the house early in the morning to go to the grocery store and pick up some coffee cake for the family for breakfast.

Another reason this recipe is special is that this recipe card was handwritten by my grandmother, not my mom! If you’ve been following my blog, you might have even noticed the difference in handwriting. My grandma, Alice Gurska, was such a treasure. She passed on all her recipes to her four daughters and it makes me so very honored to be cooking from her recipe now. (Even though I had to get in touch with one of my aunts to help me decipher some of Grandma’s handwriting! Lol)

The funny thing is, I don’t remember my mom ever making this particular recipe! She probably did, but mostly I remember my mom making more complicated and involved coffee cakes when I was little. Blitzkuchen, however, is as simple as can be. You can really imagine that it’s been handed down from generation to generation, for hundreds of years, dating all the way back to hardy Omas in simple little Bavarian villages baking breakfast for their families. When you make this recipe, I hope you feel that too!

So let’s get into it! For this recipe, you’re going to need a greased 8” cake pan. Start by preheating your oven to 375°. First, let’s make the streusel topping. Mix together (in order) 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts, and 1 tablespoon of butter (melted.) Set aside.

Next, sift together 1 cup of flour, ½ a cup of sugar, ½ a teaspoon of salt, and 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder. Then, take ¼ cup of butter and cut it into the dry ingredients with either a fork or a pastry blender (I used a fork!) The recipe says to do this until the mixture is in crumbly pieces the size of rice kernels.

Confession: I never got to this stage! I blended forever and never achieved this consistency. But I kept going and my blitzkuchen turned out perfectly.

Next, in a separate bowl, beat one egg thoroughly and mix in ½ a cup of milk. Make a well in the center of your first mixture and add in the milk and egg. Then, stir together just until moistened. The recipe says only 15 strokes and I stuck to that exactly! Take this mixture and pour it into the greased pan, then sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top.

Finally, bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. And that’s it! With about five minutes of prep time and 20 minutes of baking, this lightning cake really lives up to its name, right?

When served hot, this coffee cake is as light and fluffy as a cloud. But if you refrigerate it for a night, it becomes denser and chewier (which I really like!) Hot or cold, fresh or a few days old, this blitzkuchen is the perfect recipe. I served this yummy coffee cake alongside some bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit salad and it was absolutely delicious.

I hope you love it as much as I do and that when you make it, you’re transported directly back into simple times in a quaint little German village.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

• 1 cup flour

• ½ a cup sugar

• ½ a teaspoon salt

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ¼ cup butter

• 1 egg

• ½ cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. Grease bottom of 8” cake pan

3. For the streusel topping: mix together (in order) 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts, and 1 tablespoon of butter (melted,) then set aside

4. Sift together 1 cup of flour, ½ a cup of sugar, ½ a teaspoon of salt, and 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

5. Take ¼ cup of butter and cut it into the dry ingredients with either a fork or a pastry blender

6. In a separate bowl, beat one egg thoroughly and mix in ½ a cup of milk

7. Make a well in the center of your first mixture and add in the milk and egg

8. Stir together just until moistened (about 15 strokes)

9. Pour mixture into the greased pan, then sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top

10. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

11. Serve and enjoy!